Over the last few years, our country has been the victim of numerous cyber-attacks that have become increasingly more dangerous. Millions of Americans have had their personal information stolen. For years, both the business community and our agencies that keep our country safe have asked Congress for legislation that addresses these threats. I’m pleased to report thatyesterday, the Senate Intelligence Committee (SSCI) approved the “Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act of 2015” (CISA) on a bipartisan vote of 14-1. This legislation, which I wrote with Vice Chairman Feinstein (D-CA), is critical to securing our nation against escalating cyber threats. I’m pleased CISA will advance to the Senate floor where it will enjoy support from both sides of the aisle. The bill we passed yesterday is overdue and will enable our agencies and institutions to share information about cyber threats and to strengthen the protection of the private information of citizens. With risks are growing every day, we are finally better prepared to combat cyber attackers with this bill. Read more about CISA here.
I joined Peter Cook from Bloomberg immediately after yesterday’s committee vote to discuss CISA and its future.
Chairman Burr on Bloomberg TV:
“The Intelligence Committee understands the threat [cyber attack] presents to American business, the American economy… at the end of the day we’ve got a bill that legitimately can go to the Senate floor… and hopefully pass the Senate with fairly significant margin.”
Wall Street Journal had an excellent write-up on my cybersecurity bill in this morning’s paper, read it here.
Earlier this week, I joined 52 colleagues in expressing our opposition to a new proposal from the Administration that would severely limit access to rifle ammunition primarily used for sporting purposes. You can read the full text of our letter here. Within hours of our letter being sent, the Obama administration announced they planned to back down. This is a real victory for the Second Amendment!
Did you catch me on the Today Show on Wednesday morning? Watch by clicking below.
“Nobody has any way to verify what she did or didn’t do without the server”
Senator Cornyn’s office released this moving video on Tuesday in an effort to bring more attention to an important piece of legislation, the “Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act.” I am proud to join my Senate colleagues in supporting this legislation – we must do our part to ?end human trafficking and help protect the most vulnerable. Click below to watch the video.
Senator Manchin and I introduced the “Homeless Veterans Prevention Act of 2015” on Tuesday. It is heartbreaking that we still have almost 50,000 homeless veterans in this country. This legislation will help us reduce the number of homeless veterans until all of our nation’s heroes have a place to call home. In particular, many women have been unable to fully participate in existing programs because their children were not allowed to live in the transitional housing. The Homeless Veterans Prevention Act bill addresses this shortcoming and increases the availability of housing for homeless veterans. Read more about our bill to help combat veteran homelessness here.
Finally, this week we tragically lost 11 service members during a training mission in Florida. This tragedy reminds us of the great risks our men and women in uniform take every day. We cannot forget the sacrifices they make on our behalf to defend our freedom. Our prayers are with their families and we will remember their service to our great country.
Sincerely,
Richard Burr